Well here I go with another Jeeps Gone Wild, Badlands trail report...but hey, that's a good thing.

It was a year ago this weekend that I took my first trip to the Badlands, which was also my first off road trip in my jeep, and the first time I met up with Jeeps Gone Wild. Since then a lot of things have changed. The jeep is better. The Jeeps Gone Wild events are bigger. I've been able to wheel with quite a few people.....I just wish I could remember all their names.

The outlook for Sunday September 28th, 2008 (my wifes birthday) was good, weather wise. The forecast called for sunny skies and temps in the 80's. I decided on Saturday I was makin the drive down topless...not me, the jeep.

I woke up early and hit the road at 0530....alone. The wife was supposed to go with, but a last minute Brownie Scouts field trip to the local corn maze changed those plans. The wife said I could go wheeling, while she went on the field trip. Gotta love her.

It was around 60 degrees with star lit skies when I left town. I had on a sweat shirt and my Columbia outershell.....thank goodness. I have to drive 200 miles (3 1/2 hours) to Attica, but this was my first solo. I didn't have to worry about being bored on the way down thanks to some rain. Remember...TOPLESS. It came down pretty good for about 5-minutes or so, just before I got off I-39 at El Paso Illinois. Funny, but the wipers don't do one bit of good on the inside of the windshield.

I rolled through El Paso and the rain stopped....for a few miles, then it was another 5-10 minutes of rain. I stayed pretty dry, just slightly damp to the touch. The windshield sucked though. I made a note self: BUY SMALL SQUEEGEE FOR INSIDE OF JEEP.

I arrived at the Badlands at 0930 (give or take) and signed in. I found a fellow club member, Fred, and prepared the jeep for the day, you know airing down, disconnecting swaybar, putting on the flag. I aired Fred down too...he wants a Currie EZ deflator now.

After a short bit other members, and guests started to arrive. More airing, more disconnecting...lots of excited chatter about what we were going to do. There ended up being 24 or 25 of us...WOW!

Mike (short guy in red) signed up a few new members.

Lots of jeeps lined up, preparing for the trail run.

Jeepers meeting and greeting.

Off to the first trail. The rockyroad as I call it.

Chad negotiates a tight right hander that led down this hill.

Here Kevin leads the way amongst the rocks.

One of several rocky climbs.

A few people peeled off of the first trail and headed to the quarry to play around, and await the rest of the group. It was decided we would play in the quarry for an hour or so, then split up into two groups and hit some trails.

Kevin was hung up pretty good, a couple of times. High centered on a big old rock. Aaron gave him a little winch, then the rest was up to Kevin, he actually made it look rather easy once the tires were touching the ground...which seems to help.

After the playing was finished we divided up into two groups. One went to the Creek Trail, the other to Kevins Trail. I was with Kevin, who led Kevins Trail. There was more mud and water on the trail than I would have guessed, since there hadn't been any rain in a while. The amount of dust we were kicking up would also have made you think mud was not possible.

I jumped out of my jeep to grab some shots.

Chad negotiating this tricky down hill.

I saw a few jeeps get a bit tippy coming down that ^ hill. You can't see real good as you come down and around, which can make it quite interesting.

Our group lined up for the Creek Trail. (It's my new desk top)

Dropping into the creek.

Getting down into the creek is kind of interesting. You have a pretty steep down hill, which has a big rock in the way, and there are walls along side you...as well as a tree or two.

Note the tree next to the front tire. Can you see it?

How about now?

That was really strange, he drove by that tree and barely tapped it, which caused it to swing up behind him. We were able to get it moved...but it was funny. Chad had my video camera, and actually caught it on tape. I'll post that someday.

We made it through the creek with out any problems. We headed back to the quarry to meet up with the other group. Some ate lunch, some checked over their jeeps, some had to leave early and some.....well they played...

He gave up before he broke something. I've done the same...darn D35's!

We had about two hours until the park closed, which meant about an hour and a half of wheeling time, since you have to reconnect, air up, remove flag.....which with 20 plus jeeps would take a little while.

We decided to give the Orange Trail a shot. We split up into two groups at the trail entrance. There were only 8 (I think) of us in the second group. We gave the first group (12 or so) about a 10-15 minute head start.

It only took us a few minutes to catch up to them. There is a little hill, which was slick and nasty last time I was there, followed by a pretty good up hill, which was slick and nasty this time. I never made to either hill on this day.

Aaron came back and told us they were winching everyone up the hill. Zach was having some issues with his XJ so Chad and I joined him, and Ashley, and turned around. We didn't want to risk having the XJ shut down, with so little time to go. Turns out we didn't take the most direct route back out.

We found ourselves going further into the Orange Trail, not back out...oh well, we were committed...time to wheel. We encountered some pretty good muck (no pic). Those of you who read my last report know about the pumpkinator getting hung up on the tree...well that same spot stopped Chad. Zach beat it. There was no tree this time, but it was dug out and slicker than snot. I went around. While we were there the red Ruby, with the teddy bear...sorry I can't remember your name...met up with us.

I was now leading the way. I had a bad feeling we were going to end up in the swamp we had just went passed. I was right. I said...no way. Zach said give me my stick! He jumped on his stinger, with his depth finder, and has Ashley drive...she really didn't want too. But niether did I. All I could think of was hydro-lock.

Not a Lorance, but it worked.

Remeber just follow the orange arrows.

Things soon got deeper. Like over the tires deeper. Zach jumped in, put the peddle to the metal and powered through. He took on some water. I headed in next and built up my momentum before the deepest part...hoping to have a nice little wave in front of me, keeping my enging dry. I'm not sure what the wave looked like, but I made it through. Teddy was next. He was lower than me and slowed to a very slow crawl just as he started to come back out of the deepest water. Luckily he stayed in the throttle and the Ruby found the grip it needed to get out.

Chad was last.

He made it too.

Back on land!

Even though I really hated the thought of hydro-locking my engine, I really enjoyed getting through that water. Now I'm going to have to change some fluids....just because.

We met up with the rest of the group and called it a day. We got things put back together and started heading out. A few of us his the $2 power wash, just to knock off the heavy stuff. I just wanted to clean my brakes out.

Anthony and I (who I apparently don't have any pictures of...sorry man) went to McDonalds to grab a bite. Where we met up with Frank and his family. Prior to getting there I had one heck of squeal coming from the front rotors. I stopped twice and looked...nothing. It got worse. I stopped again, and Anthony looked...nothing. He said back up, I did, it squealed..I went forward...nothing. We never saw what it was, but it was gone.

Chad stopped in looking for transmission fluid. Turns out the water had not been friendly. I was told he made it home, slowly. Hope it turns out good Chad.

Anthony and I ran together up 41 to 24 (Kentland) where I headed west and he continued north. I made it home without rain....

It was a great day. I hope to be able to make it to the Haunted Trail run on October 18th, with the entire family.

It was great seeing so many new people turn out for this run.

Just a final shot of my jeep, basking in the glow of a successful day of wheeling.

All of my pics from the day are HERE. You can right click save too. You're welcome.

AND IT WORKED!!!!! Then Entire Way Down I80 and 55 .. besides a little pulling off the Tarp/work mat ... dam it was cold and we had no Cd's or Mp3's so we wound up singing the hole way ... one hell of a Trip fellas, Can't wait till the 18th..... oh and i got some footage-